Assignment: Metropolis
by Green Gallant
Summary: AU. Rich Grayson is the newest reporter at the Daily Planet. His job is to try and get an interview with Superman. Which may be more of a challenge than he first thought. When he saves the life of a red head girl. Things get all the more intrestring.
1. Assignment: Metropolis

_Author's Note: One of my friends had asked that I do a Rich/Kori oneshot. This didnt turn out quite the way I had planned. But this should turnout to be a real intrestring story nonetheless. Originally this was going to be a songfic to Matchbox 20's "The Real World" It didnt turn out that way, but I'm quite pleased with the overall result. I plan on this being an on-going story hopefully. This is going to be a little different from my other stories, hope you like it. _

It was an average day for Richard Grayson as he worked behind his desk at the Daily Planet in downtown Metropolis. He had recently moved from Gotham to prusue his goal in journalism. He wasnt a star reporter like Clark Kent or Lois Lane but he was an up-and-coming writer. Everything was going along smoothly until a large explosion rocked the building people screamed as office workers were knocked to the ground. Richard and several others ran to the window to see what was happening. A man in a green and yellow flight suit was bombing the city with missles. Clark and Lois were among the ones watching from the window as soon as editor Perry Mason turned to call out Clark's name he discovered that his star reporter was gone, Richard couldnt figure out where he could have gone. Without hesistation he and Lois took off out of the office to cover the story. The two reporters ran out into the street and were swept over from above by a powerful gust. By then people started to cry out.

"Look! Up in the sky!" said a man

"Its a bird!" said a woman.

"Its a plane!" said another woman.

"No! It's...Superman!" a man cried out as he pointed at the Man of Steel.

Superman takes to the skies to confront the mad bomber. The rocket-propelled villain raced through the skyline as he dropped bombs on the unsuspecting citizens below resulting in mass destruction. Superman using his speed flew after the villain who was well aware of the caped hero's presence. He spun around on his back and launched wrist mounted missles at him. The rockets hit Superman in the chest and knock him out of the sky. The manaic cackled as he spun around on his stomach and continued his assult on the city. Superman crashlanded on the roof of a car, but got back up when he saw the damage and destruction the enemy was causing and took off after him. He fired his heat vision at him hoping to sever the villain's backpack. Dr. Blast saw him and dodged it, his heat vision cut through part of a building causing the top corner to give way and fall. Superman cursed inward and flew to catch the falling slab. He caught it after falling a short distance, the slab was big and awkward for him to carry, Dr. Blast saw his opportunity and fired several rockets at it, resulting in a huge explosion as chucks of debris sent the Man of Steel hurtling to the street below. People ran as the large chunks of debris hit smashing cars and narrowly missing people. Superman buried under most of the debris, Richard and Lois could only watch on in shock. Giving his camera to Lois, Rich raced across the street to dig Superman out of the rubble. He threw aside large chunks of rock as he despretely tried to unearth his fallen hero. His large, muscular arm bursted through the rubble startling Richard as he emerged from his would-be tomb. Shaken but alive, the Man of Steel sat up and cradled his head.

"Big Blue, are you ok?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Superman said.

"He's tearing the city apart." Richard told him.

"Dont worry, I'll stop him." The Man of Steel said getting to his feet. And with that took off after the mad doctor.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Lois grabbed Rich from behind. The two of them took cover in some nearby shelter.

Superman took to the skies once to to confront Dr. Blast. This time he was going to take him down for sure. He attacked him from behind and punched him in the cheek sending him spiraling to the ground with a crash. Superman joined him on the ground and walked over to the downed villain. The villain struggled getting to his feet. He was skinny old man in a green and yellow suit. He was bald and had a gray goatee, with green small round green goggles covering his eyes.

"Who are you?" Superman asked.

"The name's Dr. Blast." the villain annouced.

"Catchy." he said unimpressed.

"Why are you doing all this? What reason do you have attacking these innocent people?" Superman asked.

Dr. Blast chuckled. "Do I really need a reason? I just do it for the hell of it."

"I fail to see the humor in that." The Man of Steel said as he neared closer to him.

"I take it you dont have a very good sense of humor." the doctor told him.

"At least mine isnt twisted." Superman responded.

"Why dont we pick up where we left off, with some nice human carnage." he said blasting off, Superman took off after him.

The villain fired multiple rockets at buildings, though he tried Superman couldnt stop the rockets from hitting. Several buildings start to crumble, he watched in terror as chunks of debris fell. People screamed trying to evade the falling debris. Rich saw a girl with red hair about to be crushed by a large slab of concrete. He raced across and tackled her, the two rolled across the ground as it hit, crushing the sidewalk. Richard covered her with his body. The two find themselves laying in the remains of an empty windowsill, that seemingly saved them.

"Are you ok?" he asked her.

"Yeah." she said looking up at him.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" he said taking her by the hand and rushing to safety.

An enraged Superman attacked Dr. Blast punching him hard in the face busting his goggles. He punched him again in the stomach and tore apart his rocket pack with his barehands letting the doctor fall to earth. The doctor's rocket boots fired and he attempted to make a getaway. Superman shot out his rocket boots with his heat vision after falling several stories in terrified flight, the Man of Steel grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and held him there in mid-air. The Man of Tomorrow's eyes glowed red as he gave the doctor the death stare. He had every notion to break the guy's back over his knee. After all the destruction he had caused, all the lives he had put in danger and possibly killed. He had every right to use his heat vision right now, and melt his head off. But he wasnt that kind of person. Superheroes do not kill. All thought it took all of his restraint not to do so. Superman lowered himself to the ground. Ripping up a street sign he wrapped around the villain, turning him over to police. In the meantime Richard was still laying on top of the woman he saved, he got off of her and helped her to her feet.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, thanks. You saved me." the young red head said.

"Just doing my job." he smiled.

The young woman smiled back at him.

"Is it always like this?" she asked.

"Not always. Usually he takes the battle away from us." Rich says.

"Who?" she said confused.

"Superman. You sure your all right? Nothing's broken?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she nodded.

"All right, well I better be getting back." he said.

"Wait." she grabbed his arm.

"I didnt get your name." she said.

"Its Richard." he said.

"My name is Kori." she told him.

Rich smiled at her, she smiled back at him. Kori reached into her purse and pulled out a slip of paper.

"Its my number, call me later. I'd love to hear from you." she said.

"Thanks." he said accepting the piece of paper.

"Thank you." she told him.

Rich smiled and nodded. "Its no problem." he said.

Rich took off down the broken sidewalk to where Lois was waiting for him. Kori smiled as she watched him run off. The girl then turned and left.

_Author's Note: I want to thank my friend Berrydrops for being the partial inspiration behind this story. I use to do Teen Titans/Superman stories back in the day. It feels good to write another Superman story. Not one of my biggest heroes, but still intrestring to write. I thought I'd take a different approach in a Rich/Kori story. This will be the first time I've posted a crossover story. There is actually some truth to this, in the comics Richard is close friends with Superman and actually looks up to him as his idol. So let me know what you think and if you'd like to see more. _

_Please Review. _

_The Green Gallant. _


	2. The Date

_Author's Note: Hey guys what's up? I've been meaning to update this story for ages. And now I finally found the inspiration to do so. Hope you guys like it. Here's the next chapter of our story._

**Assignment: Metropolis**

**Chapter 2**

A while later at the Planet Richard sat at his desk staring aimlessly at the slip of paper Kori had given him.

"Yo, Gotham you've been staring at that for ages." Lois told him. Rich shook his head.

"Oh what?" he said looking up from it.

"You got something on your mind kid?" she asked from her desk.

"Oh sorry Ms. Lane, I was just thinking about this girl I helped rescue earlier." he told her.

"I saw that. Why dont you ask her out? Your obviously not going to get it out of that slip of paper." Lois told him.

"I guess your right." he said pulling out his cellphone.

"Hey whoa, not so fast. Better not ask her while your at work. Perry gets kind of steamed when he seems people slacking off." she told him.

"It'll just be a minute." he said getting up.

"All right dont say I didnt warn you." she shrugged and went back to work.

Rich made his way out of the office and into a hallway while dialing on his cell phone when he bumped into his boss Perry White.

"Hey kid, watch where your going? Who are you calling?" he asked.

"Uh, well I...just remembered...needed to pick something up from the store." he said weakly.

"Well do it on your own time, I want that news article finished by 4." he pointed.

"Yes sir!" he said closing the cell phone and rushed back to his desk.

As soon as he did he started typing.

"I told you." Lois chided.

"Yeah, yeah." he said as he typed feverously.

"Next time just text." she told him.

He stopped typing for a second and looked up at her, the ace reporter smiled and winked before returning to her work. He chuckled and went back to his assignment. A while later after work, Kori's cell phone rang in her apartment. The red head picked it up off the coffee table and flipped it open.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey Kori, this is Richard." he said.

"Rich hi!" she said sitting down on the couch.

"Hey yourself, listen I was wondering if we could go out for dinner tonight. If you want to I mean." he said.

"Sure Rich, that sounds great. How about the Grand Garden at 8?" she asked.

"That's awesome. See you then." he said as he turned his chair to face the window.

"Just one thing...where is that?" he asked. Kori laughed on the other end as he let out a weak chuckle.

Later that night the two met at the Grand Garden in downtown Metropolis. Kori was wearing a black cocktail dress and Rich wore a black suit. The waiter seated Kori as Rich placed himself in a chair.

"You look great tonight Kori." he said.

"Thanks so do you." she smiled.

"So how long have you been living in Metropolis?" he asked.

"About 6 years, what about you?" she asked.

"I just moved here recently. I recently transfered from Gotham branch of the Daily Planet." he said.

"That's cool." she said.

"What about yourself?" he asked.

"I'm a cheerleader for the Arena Football team here in Metropolis." she told him.

"Really." he said intrieged.

"Yeah, it's a little something I do on the side." she blushed.

"What else you do?" he asked.

"I'm a vetran's assistant at a pet hospital." she said.

"Really, that's cool. You have kids?" he asked.

"I have a nephew named Ryan. You?" she said.

"I have a little brother named Tim." he told her.

"That's cool." no sooner had she finished the waiter came up to them.

"Good evening and welcome to the Grand Garden. I will be your waiter tonight, my name is Walter. Have we decided on what to have?" asked the gray haired attendant.

"Um, yeah I think I'll have the smoked samon." Kori said.

"And I guess I'll have the lobster." Rich told him.

"Wow. I think I'll have a side of crab with mine." Kori said.

"Very well, and what would you like to drink?" he asked.

Rich and Kori looked at each other.

"Is wine all right?" he asked.

"Sure." she said.

"We'll take your best bottle of red wine." he said.

"Excellent choice." the waiter said as he wrote it down.

"I'll be back with your orders momentarlily." he said stuffing the pad into his coat pocket and went to fetch their orders.

"This is a real nice place." she said. Rich looked at her kind of wierd.

"What?" she asked.

"You ordered that crab after I ordered the lobster." he said.

Kori looked around not sure what to say.

"Well...yeah." she said embarrassed and heard him laugh.

"It's cool, you wouldnt happen to be a gold digger would you?" he joked.

"No of course not." she said.

"Good, I got enough of those back in Gotham." he said taking a drink of water.

Kori giggled a bit.

"Your so serious." she said in a mocking fashion. Rich chuckled back.

"You should meet my dad." he told her.

"Is he a real hardass?" she asked leaning forward.

"He can be sometimes. What about your dad?" he asked.

"My dad's a minister." she said.

"Oh that's intrestring." he said.

"Yeah, you know what they say about preacher's children getting in the most trouble?" she asked.

"You?" he asked.

"Some of the time but my sister Cami was the one that made his blood boil." she told him.

"Oh boy, what did she sleep around?" he asked.

Kori's jaw dropped.

"You shouldnt ask that! ha ha ha! No she only did that once, Dad was about ready to kill her." she said.

"Really, that's pretty common place where I come from." he said.

"What did you...?"

"Nah, still waiting for that someone special." he said.

"That's good to know." she nodded.

"So your..."

"Still a virgin. I dont think we're suppose to bring that up on a first date." she said. Rich chuckled.

Thier dinners came a while later. After dinner the two went for a walk in the city park.

"So how was dinner?" he asked.

"It was good, how was yours?" she asked.

"It was all right. So is there anything else you want to do?" he asked.

"I can think of a few things." she said.

A while later the guys were in a bumper car rally with Kori at the wheel. Kori squeeled as she spun the wheel and slammed into a green bumper car. Rich grabbed the handle on his side and behind Kori's headrest as they drove around the track slamming into other cars. Rich and Kori laughed as they jerked forward in their seats after slamming into the green bumper car a second time containing a red haired boy and an asain girl. The ride came to an end as they backed into a blue and red car with an African American couple inside. The speakers buzzed signaling the ride was over. They undid their belts and got out the two walked hand in hand across the carnival grounds a while later.

"So what did you think of that?" he asked.

"It was a lot of fun, ooh let's go on the roller coaster!" she pointed.

"All right." he said and they rushed over.

A second later the guys were screaming as they raced down the hill of the massive roller coaster. Kori wrapped her arms around his as they rushed down the hill and began climbing the next one. Richard threw his arms into the air as Kori tried to hang on. And felt herself rise out of her seat as they bounded over the bumps that littered one stretch of tracks before going into a sharp right hand turn plowing her into Richard as they went straight down and into a massive loop before headed into another hairpin turn that put them on their left side with Kori and Richard leaning to the outside. Good thing thier buckled in otherwise this would be scary as hell.

After they got off the roller coaster Rich and Kori stood on the boardwalk overlooking the carnival and the city a while later.

"It's beautiful tonight." she said watching the lights on the carnival rides.

"Yeah it sure is." he said softly.

"Thanks for bringing me out here." she told him.

"Not a problem, it's the least I can do." he smiled.

Richard and Kori had changed out of thier dress clothes before coming to the park. Kori wore a blue and white baseball shirt and jean shorts while Rich wore a red hoodie and jeans. Kori put her hand over Richard's on the railing he looked at her and smiled. She smiled back.

"I had a great time tonight." she said.

"Yeah so did I. Same thing tomorrow?" he asked she paused for a minute.

"Maybe something a little different." she smiled and kissed his cheek.

He smiled and put his arms around her and kissed her neck lightly.

"Whoa easy tiger." she laughed.

"What can I say? When I see an opportunity I pounce." he joked. Kori laughed as he continued to kiss her neck. She smiled and turned towards him and let him kiss her lips.

"This works too." he said making her laugh.

_Author's Note: So what did you think of that? Hope you guys like it. I'm not sure when or if I'll update the next time but it's something I've been meaning to do for the longest time. Let me know what you think. Think I wrote Lois Lane pretty well too, for my first or second try. _

_Please review_

_Green Gallant_


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